A General Rant - Chargers & Charging
Discussion
I took the plunge and I am now the proud owner of a Tesla Model Y and I'm very happy with it. However....
My energy supplier, EON Next very smoothly moved me to their smart EV tariff (I'll go OIG when new house with solar and batteries is finished) and booked me in for an install on my current house for December 16th. They cancelled due to installer sickness 8 hours before the scheduled install and I'm now getting the silent treatment. I'm in a difficult postcode and I think they were premature offering me such a quick install date, but if I do another quote on their website they still say 'installation available as early as tomorrow'...!
No problem, I'll shop around. Where the hell are all the the home EV installers? My current house is a new build and pre wired for EV charger so easy money for an installer, but I can't find one for love nor money.
Decide to chill for Christmas and get by with public charing. My nearest Tesla Super Charger is 40+ miles away, but there are other chargers nearby so I should be fine..... NOT. Nothing faster than 50kw within 30 miles and the 50kw chargers that are nearby are sooooo busy. And the cost is horrific. Thank God for Tesco and PodPoint.
OK I'm in a difficult postcode, but if there are several people queuing to get on a 50kw charger late in the evening on New Years Day then it's not rural. In fact, if there are 3 Tesco superstores within 12 miles then clearly it isn't a rural area.
Where are all the installers? I want your business.
Why is public charging so shockingly bad?
Why are they public charging suppliers allowed to get away with the charging rates? Regulate them.
Rant over.
P.S. I did use a Supercharger and it was excellent and way cheaper than any public charger near me. I don't have an external socket and hence I didn't get a granny charger, maybe that was a mistake. The car is excellent, so many good features that are only obvious after you've experienced them.
My energy supplier, EON Next very smoothly moved me to their smart EV tariff (I'll go OIG when new house with solar and batteries is finished) and booked me in for an install on my current house for December 16th. They cancelled due to installer sickness 8 hours before the scheduled install and I'm now getting the silent treatment. I'm in a difficult postcode and I think they were premature offering me such a quick install date, but if I do another quote on their website they still say 'installation available as early as tomorrow'...!
No problem, I'll shop around. Where the hell are all the the home EV installers? My current house is a new build and pre wired for EV charger so easy money for an installer, but I can't find one for love nor money.
Decide to chill for Christmas and get by with public charing. My nearest Tesla Super Charger is 40+ miles away, but there are other chargers nearby so I should be fine..... NOT. Nothing faster than 50kw within 30 miles and the 50kw chargers that are nearby are sooooo busy. And the cost is horrific. Thank God for Tesco and PodPoint.
OK I'm in a difficult postcode, but if there are several people queuing to get on a 50kw charger late in the evening on New Years Day then it's not rural. In fact, if there are 3 Tesco superstores within 12 miles then clearly it isn't a rural area.
Where are all the installers? I want your business.
Why is public charging so shockingly bad?
Why are they public charging suppliers allowed to get away with the charging rates? Regulate them.
Rant over.
P.S. I did use a Supercharger and it was excellent and way cheaper than any public charger near me. I don't have an external socket and hence I didn't get a granny charger, maybe that was a mistake. The car is excellent, so many good features that are only obvious after you've experienced them.
A granny charger would be a good backup in this scenario. Fortunately my Model Y came with one as standard back in 2022 and I used it for a week last year when my old wall charger suddenly failed.
I don’t go anywhere near local public chargers, so no idea what they are like. Tesla charging network is awesome though when I need it for long trips. It’s never let me down in 8 years.
I don’t go anywhere near local public chargers, so no idea what they are like. Tesla charging network is awesome though when I need it for long trips. It’s never let me down in 8 years.
I organised my charger well in advance of getting my car. I didn’t want to risk what you experienced. I am surprised you can’t get a local electrician to install your EV charger more so if you let thf supply it. Doesn’t google come up with any company? They may also be closed for the Xmas period.
CrgT16 said:
I organised my charger well in advance of getting my car. I didn t want to risk what you experienced. I am surprised you can t get a local electrician to install your EV charger more so if you let thf supply it. Doesn t google come up with any company? They may also be closed for the Xmas period.
Might be a bit easier to find an installer next week when they are back at work!Is there a local area Facebook page you could ask on? We got our guy off there, but he did say (in Dec 24) charger install business that he'd focussed on, was dropping off and he was back to doing more regular electrical work so his availability was less immediate than it had been. In the event that car was delayed a week so it was OK.
I didn't want to buy a charger beforehand as there were a few charger inclusive deals at the time.
I didn't want to buy a charger beforehand as there were a few charger inclusive deals at the time.
I struggled to get a charger installed, too.
We know quite a few good sparks through work, but none wanted to do the job; they all said the same thing: they couldn't sign it off and were slightly unsure of the regs.
It just came across as it was more hassle than it was worth for them.
Got it done in the end, but both the house's consumer units needed to be upgraded (one in the house and one in the garage); they were pretty old.
We know quite a few good sparks through work, but none wanted to do the job; they all said the same thing: they couldn't sign it off and were slightly unsure of the regs.
It just came across as it was more hassle than it was worth for them.
Got it done in the end, but both the house's consumer units needed to be upgraded (one in the house and one in the garage); they were pretty old.
keepoffthemarbles said:
P.S. I did use a Supercharger and it was excellent and way cheaper than any public charger near me. I don't have an external socket and hence I didn't get a granny charger, maybe that was a mistake. The car is excellent, so many good features that are only obvious after you've experienced them.
Could you run a cable out a window/ under a garage door for now?Use something like this with a granny charger, which generally comes with the car.
https://toughleads.co.uk/collections/ev-electric-v...
To use a granny I’d need a pretty long extension lead not to mention I’d need to buy the charger. Or scrounge a loaner.
I thought I had it all sorted in advance so mighty p1ssed off to be in this situation. Mind you, I’ve already had £50 compensation out of EON and I’ll chase for more to at least cover the cost difference of using public charging. Even if I find another solution I won’t cancel as currently EON are in breach of contract.
No idea why there are so few local installers. I’ll keep looking.
Tesla have proved reliable, fast and relatively cheap national charging can be done so there are no excuses.
I thought I had it all sorted in advance so mighty p1ssed off to be in this situation. Mind you, I’ve already had £50 compensation out of EON and I’ll chase for more to at least cover the cost difference of using public charging. Even if I find another solution I won’t cancel as currently EON are in breach of contract.
No idea why there are so few local installers. I’ll keep looking.
Tesla have proved reliable, fast and relatively cheap national charging can be done so there are no excuses.
keepoffthemarbles said:
I took the plunge and I am now the proud owner of a Tesla Model Y and I'm very happy with it. However....
My energy supplier, EON Next very smoothly moved me to their smart EV tariff (I'll go OIG when new house with solar and batteries is finished) and booked me in for an install on my current house for December 16th. They cancelled due to installer sickness 8 hours before the scheduled install and I'm now getting the silent treatment. I'm in a difficult postcode and I think they were premature offering me such a quick install date, but if I do another quote on their website they still say 'installation available as early as tomorrow'...!
No problem, I'll shop around. Where the hell are all the the home EV installers? My current house is a new build and pre wired for EV charger so easy money for an installer, but I can't find one for love nor money.
Decide to chill for Christmas and get by with public charing. My nearest Tesla Super Charger is 40+ miles away, but there are other chargers nearby so I should be fine..... NOT. Nothing faster than 50kw within 30 miles and the 50kw chargers that are nearby are sooooo busy. And the cost is horrific. Thank God for Tesco and PodPoint.
OK I'm in a difficult postcode, but if there are several people queuing to get on a 50kw charger late in the evening on New Years Day then it's not rural. In fact, if there are 3 Tesco superstores within 12 miles then clearly it isn't a rural area.
Where are all the installers? I want your business.
Why is public charging so shockingly bad?
Why are they public charging suppliers allowed to get away with the charging rates? Regulate them.
Rant over.
P.S. I did use a Supercharger and it was excellent and way cheaper than any public charger near me. I don't have an external socket and hence I didn't get a granny charger, maybe that was a mistake. The car is excellent, so many good features that are only obvious after you've experienced them.
Why didn t the housebuilder fulfil their requirements under section 6.2 of Approved Document S and provide an actual charging point rather than just pre-wiring? This requirement came into force in 2022 so quite how the housebuilders are still getting away with shirking their responsibilities is beyond me! My energy supplier, EON Next very smoothly moved me to their smart EV tariff (I'll go OIG when new house with solar and batteries is finished) and booked me in for an install on my current house for December 16th. They cancelled due to installer sickness 8 hours before the scheduled install and I'm now getting the silent treatment. I'm in a difficult postcode and I think they were premature offering me such a quick install date, but if I do another quote on their website they still say 'installation available as early as tomorrow'...!
No problem, I'll shop around. Where the hell are all the the home EV installers? My current house is a new build and pre wired for EV charger so easy money for an installer, but I can't find one for love nor money.
Decide to chill for Christmas and get by with public charing. My nearest Tesla Super Charger is 40+ miles away, but there are other chargers nearby so I should be fine..... NOT. Nothing faster than 50kw within 30 miles and the 50kw chargers that are nearby are sooooo busy. And the cost is horrific. Thank God for Tesco and PodPoint.
OK I'm in a difficult postcode, but if there are several people queuing to get on a 50kw charger late in the evening on New Years Day then it's not rural. In fact, if there are 3 Tesco superstores within 12 miles then clearly it isn't a rural area.
Where are all the installers? I want your business.
Why is public charging so shockingly bad?
Why are they public charging suppliers allowed to get away with the charging rates? Regulate them.
Rant over.
P.S. I did use a Supercharger and it was excellent and way cheaper than any public charger near me. I don't have an external socket and hence I didn't get a granny charger, maybe that was a mistake. The car is excellent, so many good features that are only obvious after you've experienced them.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/621...
Edited by plfrench on Saturday 3rd January 22:40
plfrench said:
Why didn t the housebuilder fulfil their requirements under section 6.2 of Approved Document S and provide an actual charging point rather than just pre-wiring? This requirement came into force in 2022 so quite how the housebuilders are still getting away with shirking their responsibilities is beyond me!
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/621...
My current house was a virtually complete new build when I purchased it quickly (Nov 24) because I couldn't find a suitable rental property to see me through whilst the build of my new house was in progress. I didn't have the opportunity to spec an EV charger. The Cable is installed and terminated in an external wall box and, I assume, ready to terminate inside the consumer unit. The house builders are a big well established builder in this area and building estates with several hundreds of houses so I'm assuming they know what they are doing (or can get away with). I haven't got fully into the detail yet on my new house, but my understanding is that the new build only needs to be ready to install an EV charger as opposed to actually having an EV charger. Purely by chance I played golf with the retired Construction Director of the developer who built my current house and he confirmed that they only needed to provide the cabling ready for a charger and an opportunity for the new owner to add the actual charger. I guess I missed that opportunity. He also hasn't been able to identify a local sparky who will install a charger for me.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/621...
I'm finding out as part of my own house build that there is generally several interpretations of regulations. I agree that it's frustrating that seemingly simple regulations, such as 'must have an EV Charger pre installed' are open to so much interpretation.
Our house was refurbed in 2022 and the builder put a cable and extra RCBO in for a charger - incomer and CU is on one side of the house and garage is on the other, so it's quite a run through the house.
I only found out when I had the charger installed at our daughters house that there's no data pair of cables that should be there for the current transformer and the RCBO used is the wrong type (single rather than double pole). So it was certainly true in our case that the electrician didn't know what he was doing.
I only found out when I had the charger installed at our daughters house that there's no data pair of cables that should be there for the current transformer and the RCBO used is the wrong type (single rather than double pole). So it was certainly true in our case that the electrician didn't know what he was doing.
I found mine though the governments website for the renters grant, you know they know what they re doing if they ve gone though the fuss of registering for goverment schemes
You just put in your postcode
Alternatively, look on Facebook, I had people falling over themselves to do it and mine was a 25m cable run though 3 walls
£1100 before the £350 grant for a hypervolt home 3
https://www.gov.uk/electric-vehicle-chargepoint-in...
You just put in your postcode
Alternatively, look on Facebook, I had people falling over themselves to do it and mine was a 25m cable run though 3 walls
£1100 before the £350 grant for a hypervolt home 3
https://www.gov.uk/electric-vehicle-chargepoint-in...
Edited by Quattr04. on Sunday 4th January 00:33
Sheepshanks said:
Our house was refurbed in 2022 and the builder put a cable and extra RCBO in for a charger - incomer and CU is on one side of the house and garage is on the other, so it's quite a run through the house.
I only found out when I had the charger installed at our daughters house that there's no data pair of cables that should be there for the current transformer and the RCBO used is the wrong type (single rather than double pole). So it was certainly true in our case that the electrician didn't know what he was doing.
We have no data cables to our charging point, what’s the reference to a transformer?I only found out when I had the charger installed at our daughters house that there's no data pair of cables that should be there for the current transformer and the RCBO used is the wrong type (single rather than double pole). So it was certainly true in our case that the electrician didn't know what he was doing.
bennno said:
We have no data cables to our charging point, what s the reference to a transformer?
As I understand it, a data cable is generally installed between the charger and a current measuring device called a CT (Current Transformer) clamp on the input to the meter so the charger can cut out if the total load on the house rises above whatever the incoming supply/fuse is rated to. Not sure if this is a legal requirement, but we certainly have one. You wouldn't necessarily know it was there unless you're interested, because the ethernet cable is generally integrated into the power cable and the CT clamp is typically in the meter box.
Edited by kambites on Sunday 4th January 09:11
keepoffthemarbles said:
To use a granny I d need a pretty long extension lead not to mention I d need to buy the charger. Or scrounge a loaner.
It is definitely worth getting one for emergencies, together with the toughleads extension mentioned above.https://shop.tesla.com/en_gb/product/mobile-connec...
If you want a Tesla wall charger, there are lots of as-new 2nd hand units available as people buy them to use up referral credits. Or you could get a 32A commando socket fitted (properly earthed) and use the mobile connector with the commando plug.
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